Agreed! In fact, I nearly stated as much in my post on the last page, but was ignored.
I picked up on it, but I think just about everybody has picked their topic/battle.
Reincarnation? I'll bite. Theologically, what purpose does it serve? I've heard it's mainly related to ones "karma" that determines what one would come back as?
Yeah, all of the religions believing in reincarnation that I'm familiar with have some kind of karma system, under various names. The Hindus believe in both good and bad karma, while the Jains believe all karma is bad and thus, you should try to interfere with the world as much as possible, because you might accidentally cause harm (like swallowing a bug, which is why their monks wear coverings over their mouths). I seem to remember something about the Aztecs believing warriors came back to life as butterflies, which I guess is pretty cool if you like killing people and tasting with your feet.
It seems that forgetting past lifes would be no different than never having them. It's not information that can be accessed so it won't effect ones behavior. Unless of course the idea includes the concwpt of people's personalities (attitudes and behaviors) are influenced by way of ones whole (all lives) being.
My understanding of the Hindu view is that everything about your life is the result of your karma, so it's not just that you're born a human, but also that you're born in such-and-such a caste to parents of such-and-such socioeconomic status, etc., and I think they believe that karma keeps going through all your lives. Rollover karma, I guess you could say. A side effect of this is that their religion doesn't require them to help people, because if something bad is happening to someone it's their own fault for being a bad person/snake/badger a couple hundred years ago. I'm not sure about Buddhists, Jains, Scientologists, or others on that matter.
There's a huge problem I have with the "past-life hypnosis" stuff. Unless your past lives are somehow embedded in your brain during your future lives, it just doesn't make sense... and then wouldn't they build up over time until there wasn't room? Maybe that's why I'm so easily distracted.
I think it's safe to say that a fear of death is pretty universal among humanity. As far as I know, every religion believes in an afterlife, even if they don't believe in a god/gods (like Buddhists). Think about how defensive people get when you attack their identity (call some random guy a fag or a bad father and see what happens
1), and what's more threatening to your identity than the thought that in 100 years you won't even exist at all? You die, your corpse rots, and for the most part everybody forgets you ever existed and probably nothing you did in life will even matter in the long run. Depressing, ain't it? The second part is the fear of the unknown. Try to imagine not existing. I bet you can't. You might be able to imagine, say, being surrounded by nothingness, darkness, sensory deprivation, whatever, but imagine not existing. Not even your mind exists, so you can't even know you're dead. There's not even a "you" to not be able to think about not existing. (I think I should stop before I confuse myself.
) Anyway, I think that's a big reason why all societies come up with a concept of the afterlife. It's a lot easier than imagining the possibility of
not having one.
From a societal perspective, I think that beliefs about the afterlife serve a big purpose when it comes to people's behavior. Quite simply, if your death is going to be the same as everybody else's no matter what and nothing you do in life really matters to anybody in a couple centuries, why do anything but enjoy what little time you have left (at the expense of everyone else if need be, since their lives don't matter either)? Why should I risk my life for anything if death is the most terrifying thing possible? Believing that you will get some kind of reward or punishment for their deeds gives people a sense of purpose, that they should do a, b, and c, but not x, y, and z (fill in the variables for whatever religion you like) because what you do in life
does matter. Without an afterlife, life is depressing, our actions are pointless, and death is terrifying.
Honestly, I have no idea what awaits me when I die, and it's scary. If the Baptists or Buddhists are right then I'll be fine, but if the Catholics or Atheists are right then I'm doomed in the worst ways imaginable. I don't particularly expect reincarnation (it just seems a little "out there" for me), but I guess I'll just have to wait and see (or not).
Once a religion has established that there is something after death, then I think reincarnation is a pretty easy choice for many. The world goes through all kinds of cycles and springs back to where it was before (like seasons), so it seems like the same could be true for life and death. Add on that we begin life weak, bald, and helpless, then grow strong and wise, then start the downward slope back towards being weak, bald, and helpless (say around age 25
), culminating with death. When you return to the same point where you started, it seems pretty natural that you're going to start again, right? One of the things I always found myself wondering when it came to ideas about Heaven was "Okay, then what? What comes after that?" Somehow, the idea of a temporary condition (life) followed by a permanent one (eternal afterlife) just doesn't sit right in my mind.
Plus, the idea of coming back to life as a shark is totally badass.
1:
I take no responsibility for what happens if anybody actually tries this.
